EL CAJON – Watching El Cajon Valley High senior Sean Stahl patrol a football field wouldn't raise the notion he had anything less than a normal childhood.

A fit 5-foot-10, 205-pounder, Stahl is a four-year varsity starter who is sure to earn his share of postseason awards. Yet his path to becoming a football standout wasn't easy.

Stahl was born with leukemia, a rare disease among newborns affecting about 2,000 in the United States annually. He had bleeding from his ears, which left him partially deaf. Stahl, who underwent chemotherapy, said he didn't utter his first word until after his second birthday.

Now 17, Stahl looks back on his childhood and realizes the seriousness of a form of cancer that's expected to kill more than 22,000 Americans this year.

"It's scary to think about," Stahl said.

A two-way starter at center and middle linebacker for the undefeated Braves, Stahl said he hasn't experienced any significant health problems since he was a toddler.

"The leukemia has been dormant since I was 2," he said. "I have a checkup when I'm 19 to see what the status of it is."

In the meantime, Stahl is fixated on helping bring El Cajon Valley football into the limelight. He is a key ingredient in the Braves' Five-Wide Offense. As the center, Stahl delivers the ball one-handed to quarterback Abraham Muheize, who takes the snap in a shotgun formation 8 yards behind the line of scrimmage.

"For some reason two hands just didn't feel comfortable," Stahl said. "Because the way I had to reach out I felt like I was choking. So from my earliest days of playing football I've been a one-handed snapper."